Simple (non-invasive) tests based on physical signs are not sufficiently sensitive to detect increased intracranial pressure (ICP), a life-threatening build-up of pressure around the brain due to a head injury or illness, finds a study published by The BMJ today.

Neurologists explain to Bustle that PTSD actually has a complicated relationship with the brain — and that while there are clearly many ways in which PTSD changes neurobiology, there are a huge amount of unanswered questions about what PTSD looks like in the brain and why.

A caregiver could be a spouse, a sibling, a parent, or someone else entirely. What makes a caregiver special is their innate ability to see PTSD symptoms as symptoms instead of writing the behaviors off as bad character. But, of course, the symptoms of PTSD can take a huge toll on the veteran and the caregiver. So when a caregiver reaches out for help, or to vent — do not say these things.

Jason Kander was considered a rising star in the Democratic party, but he made headlines when he suddenly dropped out of the race to get treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. "I was afraid of the stigma. ... But it's just getting worse," he wrote. "So, after 11 years of trying to outrun depression and PTSD symptoms, I have finally concluded that it's faster than me. That I have to stop running, turn around, and confront it."

Prichard Colón was a boxer, a talented and promising one, but during a match in October 2015 he suffered a major brain injury that nearly killed him before leaving him in a coma for seven months. His road to recovery is slow and emotional.

Athletes who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be at greater risk for experiencing persistent anxiety and depression after a concussion than people who do not have ADHD, according to a preliminary study.

The style of tackling used in rugby may be associated with a lower force of impact than the style used in football, according to a preliminary study of college athletes released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology Sports Concussion Conference in Indianapolis July 26-28, 2019.

"For athletes who participate in a sport that involves a tackle or direct contact, adapting a rugby-style tackle where the players lead with their shoulders, not their heads, could make college sports safer," said study author Zach Garrett, DHS, of Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va.

While the V.A. covers the veterinary care and the equipment costs of service dogs for veterans with certain physical disabilities, like blindness or vision impairment, department leaders have long contended that there isn’t enough clinical evidence to prove their benefits for treating mental-health issues. “I would say there are a lot of heartwarming stories that service dogs help, but scientific basis for that claim is lacking,” Dr. Michael Fallon, the V.A.’s chief veterinarian, said during an interview with National Public Radio in 2017. “The V.A. is based on evidence-based medicine. We want people to use therapy that has proven value.”

The V.A. is currently conducting research into the effectiveness of service dogs, but the process has been slow. Research started in 2011 was supposed to wrap up in 2015 but has repeatedly been stalled by problems with the study’s design and execution. In May, the V.A. said the findings of the study, which has cost $16 million to date, would be released to the public in 2020.

Offering retreats and classes for veterans and their families, Project Sanctuary helps veterans adjust to life as a civilian. “I just felt like everyone was out to get me, like I would explode if I went outside,” said veteran Allen Rogers. With families, Project Sanctuary helps them adjust to life with someone changed by their service. “If we’re only focused on soldiers and their needs, we are leaving out a massive side of the story,” says Jasmine Townsend, a professor of recreational therapy at Clemson University.

A study of high school and college football players suggests that biomarkers in the blood may have potential use in identifying which players are more likely to need a longer recovery time after concussion, according to a study published in the July 3, 2019, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Acute brain injury can result in significant damage and loss of consciousness, and it may warrant life support and admission to an intensive care unit. It is when a complex journey towards recovery begins, sometimes it involves daily life and death battles. Once the condition of the patient stabilizes, the question is will they ever wake up?

"One in 3 women in the United States has experienced intimate partner violence. What we found leads us to believe that many people are walking around with undiagnosed brain injury," said lead researcher Julianna Nemeth.

In 2008, during a preseason football scrimmage for Buckingham Browne & Nichols, 16-year-old Zach McLeod suffered a blow to the head that caused an acute internal brain bleed. “He survived, but part of his brain did not,” says Zach’s father, Pat. He and his wife, Tammy, describe their experience dealing with this change as one of "ambiguous loss."

Caring for someone who's suffered a stroke can be challenging. “People don’t know what to do and they usually can’t guess,” caregiver Kelly Renzoni said. “Until you’re in this kind of situation, you have no clue what it’s like.” She offers her insights and advice on how to navigate the caregiver's role on the road to recovery.

“I knew something wasn’t right but I really didn’t think too much of it,” says the 30-year-old Lauren Barnathan. She ignored the symptoms of her stroke and it cost her a full recovery. Now she's on a mission to educate others about the signs - and encourage them to act before it's too late.

Shutting down an inflammatory molecule could potentially provide treatment days after onset. “The immune, or inflammatory, response is turning out to be a real common denominator among many neurologic diseases,” says senior study co-author Katrin Andreasson, a professor of neurology at Stanford. “The question we asked was: What immunological pathways are involved after stroke? We think we found one.”

American soccer icon Brandi Chastain says she sometimes “can’t remember some details of a place we went . . . or somebody’s last name.” Both Chastain and fellow soccer player Michelle Akers have long wondered what effect the headers and other knocks to the head they took during games have had on their neurological health.

Rugby league legend Peter Sterling says he will donate his brain to science following the discovery of a disease linked to repeated concussions in American sport in two former Australian rugby league players.

“Using annual estimates of severe physical violence,” Valera notes in a study published last fall in the Journal of Neurotrauma, “1.6 million women can be estimated to sustain repetitive T.B.I.s in comparison to the total annual numbers of T.B.I.s reported for the military and N.F.L. at 18,000 and 281 respectively.”

Part of the problem is that women hurt by intimate partners tend to hide that fact, making them hard to identify and study. But the bigger issue is that public outrage and advocacy play a major role in determining what research gets funded. In the case of head trauma, almost all the attention is going to football — and so, by extension, to only one gender.

In January 2018, while I was chaperoning my daughter’s school ice-skating trip, a sturdy third-grade boy lost control and came sliding into me from behind on his knees. He was just the right-size projectile to undercut my skates and send me flying backward on the ice, where I landed on my head. Thus began my ignoble descent into becoming a philosopher on brain rest.

According to the largest ever medical review on the sport of mountain biking, which included more than 2,000 Enduro World Series (EWS) racers, nearly one third said they went ahead and finished their race immediately after being concussed, and 43 percent of the racers said they took zero time off the bike after a concussion.

This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which is dedicated to ensuring that impacted post-9/11 veterans, service members, and their families are thriving long after they return home.

BrainLine is a national service of WETA-TV, the flagship PBS station in Washington, D.C.